Academic Freedom

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ACADEMIC FREEDOM - PAGE 5

On De Paul University bulletin boards, amid the many advertisements for a miniskirt party and hot-legs contest, for class rings at a discount and for overseas study tours, is one plain leaflet in heavy block letters that says simply: "LET HER SPEAK!" There is no need to explain to the De Paul community that the "her" refers to Eleanor Smeal, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW). They know that the leaflets protest a decision by the university administration to rescind a speaking invitation to one of the nation's most prominent feminists.

America's Roman Catholic colleges and universities, struggling to reconcile their obligation to church officials with their responsibility to academic freedom, are facing challenges from both sides. Administrators trying to chart a future course for the 232 Catholic institutions in the United States are torn between a Washington courtroom and the Vatican. In District of Columbia Superior Court, Judge Frederick Weisberg is deliberating Rev. Charles Curran's lawsuit charging that the Catholic University of America broke his contract and violated his academic freedom when it barred him from teaching theology in 1986.

University of Notre Dame's new president said Tuesday that he will put limits on two of the campus' most controversial events, saying the Queer Film Festival and "The Vagina Monologues" performance raise concerns for the Roman Catholic institution. Rev. John Jenkins stopped short of canceling this year's events, scheduled for next month, but said he would seek input from students, faculty and alumni before deciding whether the shows should continue in future years. The play will be held this year in a smaller lecture hall without ticket sales, and the film festival name will be changed.

In California, a professor was placed on leave after Arab students accused him of calling them terrorists. In New Mexico, a professor was disciplined after he told his students that anybody who could blow up the Pentagon "gets my vote." And in Minnesota, students complained to administrators that professors' criticism of President Bush made them feel insecure. Similar incidents after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have resulted in disciplinary action against outspoken faculty members, raising concerns about academic freedom on U.S. campuses in times of national crisis.

Lost amid the clamor over the University of Notre Dame inviting President Barack Obama to deliver the school's commencement address are two instances where academic freedom is truly under attack. Former anti-Vietnam War activist William Ayers was scheduled to speak earlier this month at Boston College and Naperville North High School only to have both invitations revoked at the 11th hour. Ayers' notoriety is tied to his role as a member of the radical Weather Underground group in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The battle in Wisconsin over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to curb the collective bargaining rights of most public employees has made for great theater, with Democratic legislators fleeing to Illinois and protesters filling the state Capitol. But its real value has been to stimulate an overdue national debate on how much government workers are paid — and how their pay is decided. Republicans, it's safe to say, have more than held their own in that debate. But one of their tactics did not seem to be aimed at marshaling evidence to support their case.

Former Treasury Secretary William Simon contends that charitable foundations funded by corporations are making big mistakes by giving money to "leftist intellectuals" bent on destroying capitalism. "Freedom is locked in a titanic struggle with collectivism," Simon said. "All too often, those who claim to believe in the value of freedom have been sitting on the sidelines--or, worse yet, have been cheering for the wrong side." The former official in the Nixon and Ford administrations said companies should examine their charitable contributions as closely as they do their business investments.

Academic freedom does not include freedom from accountability, especially where taxpayers' money is concerned. That's the point behind legislation that would give the Illinois Board of Higher Education expanded control over the state's public universities, and it's a point well worth making. It comes in the wake of a law, effective Jan. 1, that dismantles the Board of Regents and the Board of Governors. It provides seven of the eight campuses they govern with a degree of autonomy they have not enjoyed before by establishing separate boards of trustees for them.

The president's in cahoots with some shady characters, see? He sets up some terrorists to let loose nerve gas but the scheme backfires and ... What? You've already heard this one? It was last season's plot for "24"? Darn. OK, how about this: The U.S. government engineered the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It wanted to start a war in the Middle East ... Huh? You say that was an Internet-fueled fever dream after Sept. 11, a Big Lie seized by conspiracy theorists around the world?

By Richard F. Rosser, President, National Association of Independent, Colleges and Universities | April 19, 1991

Your March 25 editorial, "Mocking academic freedom," was right on target in pointing out that "one of the benefits of being a private institution is the right to be quirky, perverse, obtuse-and to flourish or fail because of it." Where else but on a college campus can people meet without fear of censure to develop, discuss, debate and analyze ideas that range from the most outrageous and loathsome to the most inspirational and well-reasoned? Rep. Henry Hyde's bill, the Collegiate Speech Protection Act, would try to regulate all institutions by giving students at private colleges and universities the right to sue for relief when they feel they are subjected to a speech-restrictive disciplinary code.